


The Bat & The Cat

by Tinni



Series: Delphinidae [7]
Category: Free!
Genre: Batman AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-08
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-19 17:39:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4755239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tinni/pseuds/Tinni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto is the Batman! Written for the MakoHaru AU week. Featuring Free! x Batman AU fanart commissioned from Dahliadenoire</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Bat & The Cat

“He hit up another shipment,” whined the man as he took a deep swig of his whisky, “We lost a ton of the good stuff. The boss is going to have our hide!”

“Why ours?” wondered his companion, “It wasn’t our fault. We weren’t guarding the shipment, and it’s not like we told the Bat where to find the goods.”

“You think old shark tooth is going to care about that?” wondered the first man, “He’s going to start killing. One by one until the Bat stops getting a jump on us. It's not like they can't replace us! There are ten on the waitlist for every single one of us.”

HIs companion got nervous, “You… you think so? Surely the boss can’t be that crazy! I mean, if he started indiscriminately killing, won’t the people just turn on him?”

“And do what?” wondered the man, “Go to the police? Run to the Bat? Make a move on the boss? Feh! They won’t live long enough to nothing like that.”

“Let… let’s change the subject,” suggested his companion, “If we are going to die. I want to die to have fun. Let’s go find some girls to stick it in.”

“Yeah sure, I know a place around the corner full of young things looking for fun!” he said as he was got up. But the two men never made it out the apartment.

As soon as they opened the front door, there waiting for them was, “Sosuke!” screech the companion and then he realised his mistake, “Wait! I mean, Bane! I meant to say, Bane!”

“Did you tell the Bat my name?” asked Sosuke, codename Bane, the words coming out slightly muffled through his mask.

“What…” wondered the man, “Wait!” he turned on his companion, “You traitor!”

“It’s not what you think!” protested the man, “The Bat, the Bat was hacking the network! That’s how he knew stuff. Where the shipments were and stuff like that. I just, I just went in after him. But I didn’t know! I just wanted to hack the network to see if I could. That’s how I found markers the Bat left behind. I was, was gonna go to the boss but… but… I was hacking too, and he might get the wrong idea.”

“Wrong idea,” Sosuke said in a breathy whisper, “There is no wrong idea. You know too much. Even if you didn’t betray us to the Bat, you still betrayed us. Now you must pay the price.”

“No, no!”

“I am not with him! Please, I am not!” Two loud screams rent the air and then, all was silent. But the scream did not go unheard.

* * *

Iwatobi, once a small seaside town on the west coast of Japan, was now a bustling city barely able to function due to stark inequality. It all started when a series of devastating natural disasters that destroyed Tokyo and left many of the east coast cities uninhabitable. This resulted in the population moving in land and to the east coast. The refugees flooded into the west coast cities, ill-equipped to handle the tide of humanity. In the end, a sharp divide was all but inevitable, and Iwatobi became a city of haves and have-nots.

The one thing both the haves and have nots had in common was they all suffered under a failure of law and order. The police force of Iwatobi had never been designed to serve a large, diverse community. Under the onslaught of humanity, it simply crumbled. The understaffed, underfunded police department prioritised and their priority was inevitably with those who had power and money. Everybody was else, both the law abiding and unlawful abiding citizens, were left to fend for themselves or turn, as they inevitable did, to the Batman!

* * *

The cries of anguish came to his ears thanks to the super auditory enhancing sensors that were embedded in his suit. The built-in computer analysed the pitch and tone of the cry and gave it a 95% chance to be one of distress. That was more than good enough to warrant an investigation.

The skyline of Iwatobi changed long ago. Where once there was no building higher than three stories, now stood giant skyscrapers. Batman glided between roof tops, making quick and steady progress towards an area of that could only be describes as the slums. His alter ego, Makoto Tachibana, had tried for some time to buy up the area. To maybe start to do something to rejuvenate the space with new businesses and houses that didn’t permeate hopelessness. However, someone, somewhere had a vested interested in keeping this area the way it was.

His investigations into the situation yielded just one name: Yamazaki Sosuke, codename Bane. But it also made clear that Bane was not the ultimate puppetmaster. Just the one closest to the someone the street level enforcers called shark tooth. But why the person was called shark tooth was unclear. As far as Batman could tell, no one had ever actually seen this “shark tooth”. The moniker seems to have been something that was passed from henchmen to henchmen and no one knew when or who first came up with it. Given the short lifespan of most gang members, the henchmen who first coined the name “shark tooth” was now in his grave and had most likely taken the reason behind the name with him.

The Batman or his alter ego Tachibana Makoto, would have to follow the only lead they had to get to Shark Tooth and tonight, it seemed, was the Batman’s lucky night. For as he perched on the edge of an old crumbling tenement, he saw that the man terrorizing two flunkies of the local crime syndicate was the one and only Bane!

* * *

Bane had mere moments to dodge the batarang aimed with considerable force at his head through the open window. But he quickly realised that batarang was just a distraction. The real threat was the grapple hook and followed, grabbed on to his venom injector backpack and pulled him out of the window! They were not high enough up for the fall to be fatal. Still, a second grapple hook followed to catch him and pull him safely towards the building across the street. Albeit in a way that stopped him from doing much.

Bane was having none of that. Instead he grabbed on to the fire escape and released the part of the injector backpack caught by the grappling hook. Freeded, Bane headed up to the room. Reasoning that an open air space would favour him over the cowardly Bat who sulked in the shadows.

The cautious part of him screamed in alarm because Batman knew he couldn’t match Bane in brute strength. The roof of the apartment provided little in the way of tactical advantage for him. But this was Bane, and he couldn’t just let him go. Trusting in his strength and his arsenal, the Batman took the leap.

“I didn’t think you would meet me head one,” admitted Bane, who was crouched in a position that would allow him to spring forward. As he watched Batman come to rest on the edge of the roof, “You made a mistake!” he sprung forward.

Batman leaped up in the air, wondered if Bane was crazy since the moment of his run would surely take him over the edge. But Bane proved defter on his feet the expected and easily broke his stride and made a grab for Batman’s cape. The thing had many advantages but also many disadvantages.

Batman tossed a batarang to momentarily distract Bane and get himself out of grab range. Watching Bane’s movements carefully, he could tell that Bane’s strength was inhuman. He brought to mind everything he had learnt of Bane from the hacking session and remembered the frequent mention of venom. He was still in the midst of his investigation regarding what venom was, but it stand to reason that it might be what gave Bane super strength. He should keep his distance from Bane.

However, that was easier said than done because Bane was fast and the one time Batman couldn’t move away fast enough; he got his face smash into the ground. Years of training meant that even at that disadvantage, Batman was able to pull out a stun gun and fire. Bane was stunned just long enough for Batman to roll away. Another mistake like that and it would be all over for the Batman.

He had to think of something. What did Bane have on his back? Makoto Batman started circling Bane, looking for an opportunity to jump behind him and make a grab for the tubes. He hadn’t found anything about them during the hacking session and information about both “shark tooth” and Bane were scarce on the ground. But you didn’t need to be a genius to tell that no one walked around with tubes sticking into his body unless they needed to. Right now, that was the closest thing to a weak spot he could identify.

Batman tossed a bataarang. Bane easily dodged and wondered if the head smashed had rattled the Bat badly because that was a weak throw. The next few throws were equally piss poor. It was beginning to annoy Sosuke Bane. He made another dash towards Batman and this time, Batman didn’t dodge. Instead, he jumped up and as he did that. Bane felt something things hitting his pack. That’s when it hit him; those weren’t the normal bataarangs. Those were remote control bataarangs the Bat was rumoured to have!

Taking advantage of Bane’s distraction, Batman jumped on his back and pulled out the rest of the tubes and proceeded to try and knock Bane out. But Bane wasn’t done yet! Using his bigger, stronger body as leverage. He slammed back and on to the ground. Squashing Batman between him and the hard, unmoving floor. The sound of the wind leaving the Bat’s lungs was music to his ears.

However, Bane’s triumph was short-lived. Suddenly, something wrapped around his ankle and pulled him off the Bat! Before he could recover, a hard boot connected with his skull and he was knocked out cold.

The newcomer didn’t spare Bane a second look. Instead, he ran forward to get to where the Batman was struggling to get to his feet, “Makoto!” cried the newcomer.

“Haru!” cried Makoto Tachibana, aka the Batman, “Haru!”

* * *

Between the haves and have-nots of Iwatobi, the Tachibana Family was one of the haves. Just before the first of the natural disasters happened. The family’s patriarch took a huge gamble and bought from the city council, all derelict properties in city. He also started taking over abandoned rest houses in nearby islands. Back then the city was suffering from a different crisis, a population drain as people left the small city for the bright lights of Tokyo, Osaka and other bigger cities. So there were a lot of abandoned buildings that Mr Tachibana could pick up for a song.

Whatever Mr Tachibana was planning to with the abandoned building went out the window once the crisis hit. After the population of Iwatobi had started swelling, all he had to do was renovate the buildings and rent them out. He was always a fair man. Never rent gouging and always making sure his buildings were pleasant spaces to live. He also started using the profit he was making from his rental empire to invest in commercial spaces. After all, he had also picked up warehouses, storefronts, etc., etc. Very soon, the Tachibana family was the wealthiest family not only in the city of Iwatobi but among the wealthiest in the country.

It was into this wealth that Makoto Tachibana was born and for the first eight years of his life, the sweet and kind Makoto knew nothing but bliss. He had a warm house where he wanted for nothing. A set of loving parents and a best friends in Nanase Haruka, a quiet orphan who lived with the kindly Miko of the local shrine that was always filled with cats. Then, to top of his joy, his parents declared he was going to be a big brother!

However, Makoto’s joy wasn’t meant to last. With two bullets, Makoto became an orphan. He and his parents had gone downtown to shop for some things for the twins. The twins, they had left at home with their butler Sasabe. Which proved a blessing because no sooner had Mr and Mrs Tachibana exited the store that a man walked up to them and shot them. Then simply walked away in the ensuing chaos. The man was never apprehended.

Makoto never forgot that day, never forgot that moment and he certainly never forgot the fact that the crime was never solved. As he grew up, he began to see that he wasn’t the only one who has suffered such loss and subsequent injustice. If there was one thing that united both the rich and poor citizens of Iwatobi, it was how they suffered at the hands of a corrupt and incompetent police force and politicians lacking the will or desire to reform said police.

Instead, the Yakuza were the real keepers of law and order but only for those who paid. But what of those who could not pay? What of those who crossed the Yakuza? Who was their hero? Who was their knight protector? Makoto vowed he would the protector. He would ensure that Iwatobi had someone to look up to. Someone who would be their knight. So from the age of eight onwards, Makoto trained and trained until he became the Batman!

* * *

“Haru!” cried Makoto, “You shouldn’t be here! It’s too dangerous!”

“If it’s too dangerous for me, it’s too dangerous for you. But here you are!” protested Nanase Haruka.

“I have to be here!” replied Makoto, “Someone has to.”

“Then why can’t I be here?” wondered Haru.

“But isn’t it a bother?” asked Makoto, “Don’t you just want to live freely with your cats?”

“I can’t be free without Makoto,” replied Haru, “I don’t want to go fighting crime and helping everybody. That is a pain. But when Makoto needs me, I’ll always be here.”

“Haruka,” whispered Makoto, “I am glad you are with me.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to do this for MakoHaru AU week but it didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked. All images commissioned from Dahliadenoire@tumblr.


End file.
